Hoplite formation questions

[Spartan198]

After installing 5.8.17, I started up a siege attack with me defending a town with a few hoplite units under attack by massed Gallic infantry.

One thing I noticed about my chosen hoplites (a mix of SRG, Periokoi, and Athenians) was that they started out in a very narrow square formation that was 5-6 ranks deep and 4 across.

When I was positioning them to defend (blocking streets between buildings; you know, the Thermopylae defense), they changed formation to a much wider 3-rank deep line (can't remember how many across), which I don't know if I did myself or not, so I was wondering if it's possible to manually make them change formation like that? It would be extremely useful since hoplites are my main line infantry when playing as GCS and Macedon (I've always found them much more flexible than phalangites, especially when flanked)?

Another thing I noticed during the above custom battle was that hoplites retained a much closer formation, rather than fanning out on their own like in previous versions, when engaged. I'm guessing that has something to do with the "2hp battle system" that was put in 5.8.17?

[DimeBagHo]

The default formation for Hoplites is 5 ranks deep, but you can order your men to form deeper or shallower formations by 'painting' them. To do that, select the unit with the left mouse button, then right click on the location you want them to move to, hold down the right button, and drag them into the formation you want.

The closer formation in melee is due to the smaller soldier radius for hoplites, introduced a few versions back.